There are a few book threads but they're all ancient so this is a new one.

What are you reading currently? Any good? I'm reading Lolita. It's... It's good I think. It takes some effort to get into every night. Not because it's overly complicated. It's superbly written. It just takes a few pages to get over the subject matter and sort of ease into it. Should have it finished by the weekend.

And now, the real reason I started this thread:

Lovecraft. What, would you lot say, is his essential work? I'm sure he has a fair few that you'd consider essential - I know he's well loved on here - but I want to start somewhere. What should I go for?

Apparently, it's the 75th anniversary of his death today, hence my being reminded to investigate him further after seeing this on reddit:

Yes, Zardoz, I deliberately said "get into every night" and "ease into it" about Lolita.

Just started reading The 10th Man by Graham Greene. Only a couple of chapters in, so I haven't made my mind up about it yet.

Just finished 'A Small Town In Germany' by John Le Carré. Quite good, considering nothing much happened except some bloke goes missing from the British Embassy in Bonn along with a number of secret files and a security bloke from Blighty is sent over to investigate. This all happens in the 60s, of course, "against a background of concern that former Nazis were returning to positions of power in West Germany."

I pinched these while clearing the house of a friend who was preparing to sell it. Therefore, also free.

Heh. I was reading The Spy Who Came In From The Cold at some point last year but I never got past the first few chapters. Not for any particular reason - I just forgot I was reading it I guess! It was shaping up to be pretty decent as well. Will go back at some point.

Agreed. I'm a Kindletard of the highest order but this at 12 quid is a shining example of why one should pay for a nicely packaged bit of stuff. It won't revolutionise hardback publishing but if you want the works, nicely put together, in one big nasty volume, it's a steal. I bought it with no intention of re-reading his ouvre anytime soon, but it enhances any bookshelf.

Pickman's Model, Call of Cthulhu, Shadow over Innsmouth are all favourites.

As you're skint, get the free-e-book. Then if you like what you read at all, get the hardback.

As for me, I'm reading MEtro 2033 by Dmitri Glukhovsky. The game was derived from it, and at 70-odd percent through I think it's a fine, fine book. Hero's journey plot, obviously, but it reads like a walk through the stoic and the crazy in Russian culture in microcosm. Very clever, rather gripping in places and somewhat terrifying in others, I just wanted to crack it out before playing the game, in case the game spoiled the book for me, but I think it will be a certain re-read for me over time and a bit of a favourite.

It has a touch of the Gateway feel about it. The world's gone and that which made it under Moscow after the end carry on not dissimilarly to how they did before, just on a much smaller scale, while above, things dwell, though it's all quite matter-of-fact. I love Frederick Pohl's Gateway series and there's a good write-up on the first book here:

There's a book which rips your heart and guts out, I love it like few others.

Prior to this I was on the Ice and Fire series, which pwned from start to finish with a few lulls along the way which will improve with the re-reading. I'm sure to do before the next volume comes out. Plenty of time then. I segued into McCarthy's 'The Road' halfway through, which is the opposite end of the post-apocalypse from Metro 2033, a truly nasty and somewhat unnecessary environment for even a fictional character to be placed in. The death of a world in almost pornographic slow-mo. You've got to read it though, and it's mercifully short.

I think I also slipped Clarke's "Childhood's End" in there, another brisk read, and one of the better sci-fi books ever.

As you can see, I like sci-fi and a very small amount of fantasy, on account of reality doesn't require reading about.

I've been big into my nonfiction recently. The last four books I've read have been 'Bad Science' by Ben Goldacre, 'A Brief History of Time' and 'Grand Design' by Stephen Hawking, and most recently 'Why does E=mc2: (and why should we care anyway?)' by Prof Brian Cox.

I think next is going to be the novella 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions' by Edwin A. Abbott.

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